Happy New Year!

I can't believe we are 5 days into 2013.  Where has the time gone?  It seems like only yesterday...

Now doesn't that sound familiar?  How many times have you heard that?  Countless times for me.  But then again, I'm getting older.  That happens! So, let me tell you what's been going on here in the Rubber Room and my many adventures outside the Rubber Room. 

Since my last posting, DH and I attended a wedding of our nephew, Kyle.  We celebrated Halloween with the grandchildren.  We had a nice cozy Thanksgiving, just the two of us.  We had our family gather together to celebrate Christmas. And I brought in the New Year, scrapping here in the Rubber Room.

The wedding we went to was just so beautiful!  It was good to see DH's brother which we haven't seen since 2004.  It was his son who was getting married.  I just loved the colors of the wedding, which were gray, burgundy, black and white.  It was an outdoor wedding and the day was warm and the sun was shining!  All through the wedding, I kept thinking what fantastic scrapbook pages these would me.  I kept thinking of patterned papers, cardstock, embellishments, pages, etc.  Till I finally asked the bride, if I could do her wedding album.  She was thrilled and told me she would love for me to construct her album.  So, from that point, the wheels started turning and they haven't stopped.  That was in September. 

Once we returned from Denver, I knew what papers I wanted to use.  So, I gathered all my embellishments I could use for the pages and started making a list of what I needed besides the papers.  Then I went in search on the net for what I thought I would need. 

In October, Kristana (the bride) sent me a cd of all the wedding pictures she received from the photographer.  Now I was busy snapping pictures all during the wedding as well.  But so was our other nephew, Ben.  He sent out the pictures he took of the wedding.  And all the friends and family, who are on Facebook, posted all their pictures with Kyle and Kristana tagged, so I scarfed them up as well.  So, by the end of October, I had gathered over a 1,000 pictures.  Now the task of sorting all those pictures began.

You just have to love modern technology! If it was for the computer, I never would have been able to complete the task of going through these pictures.  I could have done it, but how long would that have taken?  So for six weeks, I sorted pictures, designed the album,  found sketches to use for the layouts, searched for poems and quotes to use.  I made up a small 6x6 album and for each page, I had for the wedding album. I made notes, ideas for the pages on inserted them in the smaller album.  I, also, spent time constructing paper flowers. 

The beginning of December, I started putting the album together.  Now, if you know anything about my pages, its not just patterned paper and pictures.  To me, its the tiniest bit of detail that makes a scrapbook page go from, "Oh that a nice page!" to a "Wowie" page.  I learned that from Stacy Julian, when I watched my first CTMH cd when I became a CTMH consultant, almost 11 years ago.

So, that is what I've been up to the past few months.  I bet you're asking, where are the pages?  We want to see some pages!  I am sorry my friends, but when Kristana was asked at the wedding, whether she wanted to see the pages as I completed them, or to wait and see the album completed.  She chose the latter.  But I do have something I can share with you....

I was in the middle of constructing this layout when we left for Denver and the wedding.  Its of our visit to the Eiffel Tower when DH and I went to Paris in 1993.  I've been working on this album for quite a while now, but this layout just makes it that much closer to being complete.

I used Close To My Heart's "La Belle Vie" papers along with their My Stickease.   I thought you might like to know, I am using these papers as well for Kyle's and Kristana's wedding album.

So now I've brought you up to date of my happenings for the past 4 months.  I do have more layouts to share in the days/weeks to come as I continue to work on Kyle's and Kristana's wedding album.  Since I started their wedding album on December 3, I have completed 10 pages.  So, in my estimation, I should have their album completed around the beginning of April.  I am working very diligently to get it completed sooner.  Keep your fingers crossed I get it done sooner.

So, I gotta get back to work.
Until next time....
Happy Scrappin'!!!

Hugs,
Leanne

Our Little Twinkies

Its been a while since I posted any pictures of my twin grandsons, Jaden and Benjamin.  I realized this and thought to myself, wow...I could I have done this?  So this past month, I've been working on layouts of the twins.  I looked through their albums and realized that their second year album is almost complete.  Just a couple (exaggeration!!)  more double page layouts and that album will be complete.  

So, going through the digital photo files I have on the computer, I found these photos of the twins.  The photos were taken by a friend of Kevin's.  She loved calling the twins, "twinkies!"  So I thought it was kinda appropriate to use it as my title.

This first set of layouts are of Jaden.  He's the oldest of the two, by about 5 minutes.  He kept finding Kevin's cell phone and kept saying, "Here Daddy!"  

 This next set of layouts are of Benny.  The only thing he was interested in it seems was his snack.  He was my little mischief maker. 

So, as you can tell, the layouts are the same.  The photos are the same.  The only thing I did differently is the arrangement of the photos.  

This is what I did and products I used to complete this project.  My inspiration came from the plaid pattern paper by Laura Ashley.  I love plaids and I love the crispness of this plaid.  I purchased this paper back in 2005.  I've been waiting to find the perfect layout to use and this was the perfect project. I was afraid I wouldn't have any complimentary colors to go with the pattern paper. But to my surprise, CTMH's Spring Iris (retired) cardstock matched perfectly along with CTMH's Topiary and Sunkiss Yellow (retired). The sketch I used for this project came from Allison Davis' Sketch Support blog, #13 double page layout. The banner I cut out using my Wishblade and then used some embroidery floss to tie the banner together. The flowers came from my stash and I used Martha Stewart's butterfly punch.

I hope that my sharing has given you some inspiration. Thanks for joining me here in my Rubber Room!  I'm so glad you popped it!  And I hope you continue to enjoy your Labor Day weekend. Stay safe!

I'll meet you back here soon, with more layouts to share.

Happy Scrappin'!!!

Hugs,

Leanne

Kickin' Up Dirt

Good Morning!!!  Once again I have neglected my duties as a blogger.  I do so apologize, but I can't say it won't happen again, but I'll try to do better.  Today is Friday, August 31, 2012.  It seems our summer of 2012 is winding down and the children are heading back to school.  Here in California City, the children started back a couple of weeks ago.  Our lazy days of summer are coming to an end as we head into the Fall/Autumn season.  Hopefully, the temperatures will start dropping soon, but with the temps dropping, the winds will be picking up.  So, either way, high or low temps, Santa Anas coming in...I'll be safe and secure right here in my Rubber Room.

Its been a busy month here.  I went to crop a few weeks ago. In planning on what to work on at the crop, I planned out several different projects to take with me.  I gathered up my papers, and sketches.  I chose the stamps I thought I might use.  I printed out the pictures for those layouts.  Now I knew I wouldn't get all these projects completed, but it gave me a wonderful head start for the month ahead.  I didn't realize till later, how much faster I can scrap when I am so organized.  I thought I was doing a pretty good job before...but this one little organizational tip, helped me accomplish so much more than I ever expected. 

So, let me share with you some of those layouts.  This first layout is of our grandson, Matthew.  He's about 18 months old and my husband, Dave thought it might be fun for Matty to go for a ride on the ATV.  Matty sat in the comfort of his Poppi's arms and helped drive the ATV around the backyard. He wasn't too sure if he liked riding this thing.  So, he found comfort with his thumb.

I've been wanting to do this layout for a while.  Thanks to the crop I went to...to help me accomplish this.  A big big thank you goes out to Amy Hurtado for organizing the crop and another huge, gigantic thank you to Amy again for sharing so much with all of us.  Thank you Amy!  I am looking forward to the next crop.

So, about this layout. I used one of Susan Stringfellow's sketches. I've had these papers forever.  I believe they are from Bo Bunny, but don't quote me on that.  The blue cardstock at the top of the layout is CTMH's Sky.   I cut the clouds out with my Wishblade and pop them up with some pop dots. The tire tracks on the right side I also cut those out with my Wishblade and the ATV in the lower right corner is from "NotSoCute Stickers."  The letters in the title are from DCWV's Nana's Kids.  I just used some brown acrylic paint and painted them to blend better with my layout. In Susan's sketch, she had a big circle on the left side.  Now normally I would cut out a circle and maybe even scallop the edges, but because this was such an outdoorsy type layout and what's the coolest thing about ATVs?  Of course, its the tires.  So, I blew up a sticker of a tire and used that on the left side.  I love how it turned out!

So, that completes another layout for Matthew's second year album.  I believe I have one more double page layout to do to complete his second album. 

Thanks for joining me here in my Rubber Room!  I'm so glad you're here!  And I hope your Labor Day weekend is absolutely wonderful!

I'll meet you back here soon, with more layouts to share.

Happy Scrappin'!!!

Hugs,

Leanne

Locks of Love

Good Morning and welcome back.  I hope you had an enjoyable weekend!  I was able to spend some quality time here in the Rubber Room and completed a couple of projects.  

Our new Fall/Winter 2012 Idea Book/catalog has gone live.  So many new and exciting things are happening. The Idea Book has 148 pages of artwork and products.. There is something for everyone  I am so excited, I can't wait to try all the new products being introduced.  If you would like, you can order from my website.

So, every month I have a workshop.  Each month I feature one of the new Workshops On The Go. (WOTG)  This month's kit is Clementine.  Check out page 29 from the link above to see what is included in the kit. With the WOTG kits, there is an instructional guide.  It gives you step by step instructions on how to complete two unique beautiful pages.  I always like to take the kit and step it up a notch.

All of the products used for these 2 pages are from Close To My Heart.  I also pulled some things from my stash to use on these pages.  I use various tools to cut some of my embellishments. For instance, I used my Spellbinders scalloped circle dies to create the scalloped border.  I also used Martha Stewart's butterfly punch for the butterflies.  The heart lockets I cut on my Wishblade, then ran it through my Sizzix Big Shot with my Cuttlebug embossing folder. The flowers at the bottom of the pages, I cut using my QuicKuts die and used the Cuddlebug "Swiss Dots" embossing folder.

The photos are of my granddaughter, Deborah.  Her hair was half way down her back and she decided she was tired of having it so long.  So, she decided she wanted to donate her hair to "Locks of Love."  I knew Deborah was growing up to be a beauty, but when she cut her hair, I truly realized how beautiful she actually was.  My baby girl is growing up.

Thanks for joining me here in my Rubber Room!  I'm so glad you're here!  And I hope your week ahead is absolutely wonderful!

 

I'll meet you back here soon.

Happy Scrappin'!!!

Hugs,

Leanne

Whoops A Daisy

Happy Monday Morning!

I hope you all had a terrific weekend! The weekend here went by so fast! I spent the day at the commissary on Saturday.  Thank goodness, the store wasn't crowded. The meat department has a little television and the butcher let Matthew pick what movie to put in the VCR. Matty selected "All Dogs Go To Heaven."  So, he spent the whole time watching television as Kelli and I shopped.  Then once we got home, I had the lovely chore of putting all those groceries away.  Luckily enough, I had Kelli here to lend a helping hand.

My Sunday wasn't as eventful as Saturday.  I did manage to work on a layout though.  Its not completed though, but that's ok.   I'll keep plugging along and it'll be done before you know it.

The layout I would like to share with you today I completed the beginning of the month.  I've had it planned for a while, I just never put it together.  But when I noticed I was so close to completing Deborah's second year album, I just on this project to get it completed.

I used Close To My Heart's "Whoops A Daisy" paper pack (retired), along with Hydrangea and Bubblegum (both retired) cardstock and ink pads.  I cut some of the flowers on my Wishblade, but the other are from CTMH, or Prima.  The crystal flourishes are from "Say it with Crystals." The crystal buttons are from CTMH and I used Martha Stewart's butterfly punch for some the butterflies. And the color crystals in the center of the flowers are from CTMH. 

Thanks for joining me here in my Rubber Room!  I'm so glad you're here!  And I hope your week ahead is absolutely wonderful!

I'll meet you back here once again, tomorrow!

Happy Scrappin'

 

 

Hugs, 

Leanne

This look like a job for SUPER KID!!!

Happy Sunday to all you!

The artwork I would like to share with you today is of my grandson, Matthew.  He wanted to be Batman this past Halloween.  We tried to make other suggestions for him to chose from but he was very insistent about wanting to be Batman.  So, we got him a Batman costume and he was as happy as any little boy could be.  

When Close To My Heart introduced the new Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book back in February, I knew I would use Matthew's Halloween pictures.  So, this the project we did this month (July) for my monthly workshop.

So, the products I used came with the Workshop On The Go kit.  The kit consisted of Superhero paper pack, Superhero Workshop Stamp Set, Comic Badge Buttons,  Dimensional Stars, Superhero Complements Rub-ons, and some red, off white and navy blue brads.

I used a sketch from Sketch Savvy for my layout.  Susan Stringfellow does an absolutely terrific job coming up with so many creative sketches.  And they fit my style of scrapbooking perfectly. Check out her blog and tell her, Leanne sent you!

Thanks for joining me here in my Rubber Room!  I'm so glad you're here!  And I hope you're  having the best weekend EVER!

I'll meet you back here once again, tomorrow!

Happy Scrappin'

Hugs, 

Leanne

Stepping Out

Good Morning Friends and Fellow Scrappers!

This must be a record, three days of posts in a row!  Like I said in an earlier post, I have a lot to share.  I also said I was planning on spending the weekend here in the Rubber Room creating.  Once again, life has interrupted that plan. I am about to head off to the commissary.  Its a necessary chore, and of course we can't live without it! LOL

What I would like to share with you today is a 2 page layout I did completely from my stash.  I probably have enough paper and embellishments to last me a LONG time.  Other than purchasing the Workshop On The Go each month, it's been a while I purchased anything new.  I keep telling myself, you need to use up what you have. 

I love these photos of my grandson, Matthew, taking his first steps.  He had been trying for so long to take those first steps, and I am so glad to be there with a camera when he did.  

As I said earlier, every thing on this layout came from my stash. The green gingham I've had forever.  It from CTMH B&T papers and had been retired for quite some time now.  But you can never go wrong with gingham on a baby's page. The big scallop circle is from LYB's "Baby Safari" along with the multi colored polka cots paper.  I cut the baby shoes out with my Wishblade, in addition to the scalloped trim along the top of bottom and the title.  I even hand stitched on the layout to tie everything together using embroidery floss.  The flowers and buttons also came from my stash.  I believe the buttons are CTMH and the flowers I purchased in bulk off of ebay. A big thank you goes out once again to my friend, Susan Stringfellow for another terrific sketch.  Check out her blog here.  I used Sketch #6 for this layout.

Thanks for joining me here in my Rubber Room!  I'm so glad you're here!  And I hope you have the best weekend EVER!

I'll meet you back here once again, tomorrow!

Happy Scrappin'

 

 

Hugs, 

Leanne

Playing Dress Up

Hi again!

TGIF!!!  I am sure a lot of you are saying that! With the upcoming weekend almost here, that means, I get to spend a bit more time in the Rubber Room.  I've got some projects to work on and I am so excited to get to it!  'Cause coming Monday morning, I'll still be in the Rubber Room, but I'll be cleaning instead.  

The layout I want to share with you today, is of Deborah, just 3 months shy of her 3rd birthday.  She loved to play dress up. It didn't matter what the article of clothing...she would wear it.  She loved in particular this one jacket of her Poppi's.  I am unsure what attracted her to it, but she loved none the less.  

I use Sketch #13 from Susan Stringfellow's blog, Sketch Savvy.  The papers are Close To My Heart's "Adorable." (retired). I used Martha Stewart's Punch Around the Page, along with my Spellbinder's dies to make the scalloped circles.  The buttons along with the pearls in the center are from CTMH.  The white flowers and butterflies are also from CTMH. The pink and brown flowers are from Prima Marketing.

Thanks for joining me here in my Rubber Room!  I'm so glad you're here!  And I hope you have the best weekend EVER!

I'll meet you back here once again, tomorrow!

Happy Scrappin'

Hugs,

Leanne

Time Flies

I can't believe its been its been almost two months since my last post!  I do apologize.  Life has a way of interfering with my best intentions.  The past couple of months, I have alot of ups and downs, and a lot of bumps in the road.  But I am happy to report, that road had brought me through to the other side with barely a scratch.  But have no fear...no matter what obstacles I may encounter, I am still here in the Rubber Room, creating lots of layouts.  

I am happy to report, I have completed my granddaughter's 2nd year album.  I will be sharing with you in the next few days/weeks those layouts.  I have one more layout to do to make her third year album complete. As far as my grandsons' albums, I am just as close to having their 2nd and 3rd year album completed.  Its just a good feeling to have the albums done.  

As you can probably tell, I don't scrap in order.  I love to jump from working on one album to working on a totally different album/project.  Then all of a sudden, I realize, I have all of these albums done or almost done. 

What I like to share with you today is a 2 page layout I did a few months ago for my monthly workshop.  I used Close To My Heart's "Lucy" kit.  The layout is of my granddaughter Deborah, celebrating her 6th birthday.  

I'll have more to share in the next few days.  So, stay tuned.  

Thanks for joining me here in my Rubber Room!  I'm so glad you're here!  And I hope you have the best weekend EVER!

Until next time...

Happy Scrappin'

Hugs,

Leanne

Cruisin' Right Along

Welcome Traveler...

If you've clicked your way here from my monthly newsletter or from my posting on facebook, or just cruisin' the web, welcome!  Are your flaps up or are they down?  No, I am not talking about airplane flaps, although my husband would say his are down.  He works on airplanes.  So it natural for him to think about airplane flaps.  And I am not talking about mud flaps either.  Although, since we're CRUISIN' Route 66, we should have mud flaps installed on our cruisemobile.  Right?

I am talking about Close To My Heart's Flip Flaps. These interactive Flip Flaps are the perfect way to add extra photos, memorabilia and hidden journaling to your scrapbook layouts. Flip flaps are plastic sleeves with adhesive that attach to page protectors and allow you to slide in photos or other artwork. The Flip Flaps helps you take a simple 2 page layout and expand it to an extra page or two or three.

This layout is a compilation of photos of the different attractions along Route 66. So many pictures to capture the essence of Route 66, There is over 2,000 miles of road winding through the countryside of 8 states, starting in Chicago and ending up in Santa Monica. So much of the road is gone now,so I turned this layout into a dedication to Route 66. This interactive layout, which is actually the equivalent of 8 pages, allows you to open the flaps to reveal the story inside. Come on...lets cruise below...

Once you lift the 8"x12 Flip Flap at the top of the page, underneath is another 8"x12" page.

Now lower the 4"x12" Flip Flap on the bottom of the page and underneath is yet another 4"x12" in addition to another 12"x12" page. 

But wait...there's more....

If you open the 6"x12" Flip Flaps on either side of the layout...you have almost a whole other layout. 

I used Close To  My Heart's Cruisin' paper pack, along with CTMH's

Cruisin' Complements Silver Foil Images.  The CTMH's colors for this paper pack are: Cranberry, Juniper, Twilight and Honey. 

Thanks for joining me here in my Rubber Room!  I am so glad you stopped by! I hope you stop by again.

So until next time...

Happy Scrappin'

Hugs,

Leanne